Set in a restored colonial building, L’Elephant Restaurant offers some of the finest French and Lao cuisine in the city. The restaurant uses fresh ingredients, sourced from its own private vegetable garden, to create daily and weekly specials. The menu is a mix of typical French specialities like steak tartare and frogs’ legs, along with traditional Lao dishes like lemongrass pork and river fish grilled in a banana leaf. The restaurant’s elegant interior is a perfect match to its superb cuisine, with dramatic high-ceilings, stucco pillars, and exotic bamboo shades. In keeping with its French elements, L’Elephant also offers an excellent wine menu of both local and imported bottles.

The Coconut Garden offers well-prepared Lao cuisine in a charming outdoor setting. The restaurant’s set menus, which each include five different Lao dishes, provide a wonderful introduction to the different flavours of Lao cuisine. The vegetarian set menu features dishes like fried glass noodles with bamboo shoots; and banana fritters in pineapple syrup for dessert. Like many of the city’s restaurants, the menu also includes a few Western dishes to satisfy picky eaters. Coconut Garden mainly offers outdoor seating, including a courtyard located along the road in the front, and a shady back patio decorated with fountains.

In a colonial-chic building with bamboo shades and hardwood tables, L’Elephant is a longstanding favourite. This French bistro serves both Western and Lao cuisine, but on our lunchtime visit the aroma of baking bread was definitely stronger than that of chilli. French fare like frogs’ legs and steak tartare grace the menu, but equally popular are their degustation menus of Lao cuisine. Some dishes are traditional like lemongrass pork, while desserts like ginger ice cream are their own creation. The ambience is sophisticated and there’s an extensive liste du vin. It’s an expensive restaurant by Lao standards with the cheapest set menu starting at 180,000 kip and rising sharply from there. Still, it’s a popular restaurant and has a great reputation and consistently good service.